Scholarships, grants not unlimited

by Rebecca Cooper
Arts & Entertainment Editor

The University of La Verne has a number of financial aid opportunities available to students, including ULV scholarships and grants, state and federal grants, work-study and loan programs.

Students can also bring in outside scholarships, but that may in some cases take away from the amount of institutional aid they can receive.

That is because there is cap on the amount of aid students can receive based on a combination of financial need and academic achievement.

"When you look at the academic scholarships, it's institutional money, so they are investing in the students," said Leatha Webster, ULV financial aid director.

"Most academic, university and state and federal funded scholarships and grants are specifically targeted, and they cannot exceed the total tuition and fee amounts, so in those cases we make students choose," she said.

Occasionally students must turn down some of the scholarship money they are offered because of such a cap.

Xochitl Garcia, a sophomore in political science, was offered two scholarships through ULV, including a $7,000 academic scholarship and a $10,000 debate scholarship, which would have covered almost all her tuition and fees.

The two scholarships would not have exceeded her total tuition and fees expenses, but she was required to choose between the two scholarships.

"The University financial aid department told me they couldn't give that much money to one person and there needed to be money for everyone," Garcia said. "I've run into quite a few people with similar stories."

Garcia chose the debate scholarship, because it gave more money and she took out a loan for the remaining amount.

"When you offer a student a scholarship, you should have the money to provide that scholarship to them," Garcia said. "Instead of being a positive, sometimes the financial aid turns into a negative and just makes things harder for students."